The inspector welcomed the report of the forum on medical manpower and the establishment of a medical manpower committee. One of the primary recommendations of the forum is the commitment to provide, as far as possible, first line consultant services so that mental health services, like other medical and surgical services, come to be consultant delivered as well as consultant led. At the end of 2001, there were 261 permanent consultant posts in psychiatry in the public mental health service. Of these, 15 had been approved during the year 2001, bringing the total of new consultant psychiatrist posts approved in the five year period 1996 to 2001 to 57 new appointments.